


Heaven on earth, feet on the ground

by hotelcortez



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angel Lee Felix (Stray Kids), Angel Wings, Bang Chan & Lee Felix are Best Friends, Demon Kim Seungmin, Domestic Bliss, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Idol AU, Pain and Recovery, Protective Kim Seungmin, Protective Lee Minho | Lee Know, Supernatural Elements, Team as Family, Vampire Bang Chan, Wingfic, fae lee minho, felix bakes, half of skz are supernaturals, petnames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29097486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotelcortez/pseuds/hotelcortez
Summary: As an angel, Felix received enough judgement to last a lifetime. As an angel with wings, he simply wasn't welcome in society.But when he found himself moving into a new dorm with seven of the kindest boys he'd ever met, Felix thought that maybe he did have somewhere he was welcome.If only they weren't so nosy, then maybe Felix could keep his wings hidden from them forever.. . .a wingfic in which felix is scared to show his wings, but when the other members start to find out about them, he realises just how much they love him
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix, Lee Felix (Stray Kids)/Everyone, Lee Felix/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 68
Kudos: 470





	Heaven on earth, feet on the ground

**Author's Note:**

> heyyyyyyaaa all, we're back with another long little story
> 
> this story actually gave me one hell of a hard time in terms of my usual writing process, but i think i actually like it a lot. i've always been obsessed with angel wings and feathers and half of this fic felt like walking through a dream
> 
> i considered splitting it into chapters but i think i actually like it like this, sorry that it's a lot to read as a oneshot but please enjoy <33 (please excuse any editing mishaps, i hate proof-reading long oneshots)
> 
> tw: lots of mentions of pain but no actual injury, nothing graphic/explicit but please stay safe <3

The pain spreading down Felix’s back was starting to get bothersome.

It was a pain Felix was used to. It kind of came with the territory when he had such heavy weights permanently attached to his shoulders, but that didn’t mean there weren’t moments that Felix wished it would just go away. Felix was exhausted enough without the endless needle twinges all up his sides and the deep ache pressing down on his spine.

His shoulders were tensing up with constantly trying to manage it, his jaw clenched and teeth grinding against each other. Felix dreaded it, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he got a headache too.

He’d secretly hoped that being a celestial being destined for heaven meant he wouldn’t have to put up with mundane pains. But Felix was also a celestial being apparently stuck with expired genes, so he guessed he shouldn’t be too hopeful.

He sighed as he leant forward on his desk, crossing both his arms over each other and resting his chin on them, completely covering his notebook but still managing to keep disgruntled eyes on the lecturer and their whiteboard at the front of the room.

Felix would sneak a picture of the whiteboard and listen to the playback recording of the lecture later. He could take his notes down then. For now, he needed a small break.

It was only a review lecturer anyway, nothing Felix hadn’t learnt before. He could still get the recipes memorised and the dishes cooked for when he needed. He was at least partly confident in that.

There was actually a part of Felix that was looking forward to baking another trial batch of brownies that evening, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to bake at all if the pain got any worse.

So, he stayed slumped over the desk. The lecturer knew about Felix’s… condition, so Felix could only reasonably hope that he’d be left alone and wouldn’t be scolded for another class spent slumped over his desk biting his lips and trying not to be in pain.

After all, it wasn’t easy having to wings permanently attached to his back.

They were bound, held together by ropes and hidden under one of the _many_ baggy hoodies Felix owned. There weren’t even many people who knew Felix had the wings, but those who did know were either sympathetic, awed or downright mean.

Felix had learnt to be cautious.

He couldn’t hide the fact he was an angel; his long flowing silver hair, bright crystal blue eyes and sparkly silver freckles made that one too obvious. But at least he could hide the one angelic part of him that most angels living on earth seemed to have learned to evolve away from. Wings were just inconvenient in a human society, even in their mixed human/supernatural one. The faes had managed to completely shed the gene, it was only the select few angel families that still carried it.

Felix’s parents had thought he was safe, angels had been born without wings for generations in his family, but apparently that didn’t make him completely immune. He still couldn’t imagine his parents surprise when he was born with two majestic, white appendages attached to his back.

They were absolutely gorgeous to look at, but that was about the extent of Felix’s use of his wings.

Other than that, they were just a nuisance, and Felix was constantly reminded of said nuisance because of the endless pains and agonies creaking down his back.

Fortunately, the rest of the class seemed to pass quickly, Felix half-asleep for most of it with his warm breath tickling against his hoodie sleeve. The relaxed position helped the pain calm down some, making it easier for Felix to stand when the lecturer finally dismissed them.

He carried a shoulder bag for obvious reasons, shoving his book in it and hitching it up to his neck before stuffing his hands in his hoodie pockets and going to trail out the room.

The lecturer gave him a disapproving look on his way out, but Felix couldn’t bring himself to care. He was ready to go back to his dorm and relax for a bit, then surprise his chaotic dormmates with a new batch of brownies and watch as they all bounced off the walls on excitement and sugar highs.

 _Yeah_ , Felix smiled to himself, that sounded like an entertaining evening.

So, he hiked up his mask to hide the glitter on his freckles a bit better and then started trailing through campus to get to his dorm.

It was just starting to reach autumn, the leaves tingling with their crisp edges and catching the sun with their gentle orange hues. The air was starting to sting with its tender autumn chill, the stuffy smell of summer and the endless blue skies starting to wisp away.

Felix took a deep, happy breath, enjoying the cold starting to slink its way into his hoodie. Angels had never done well in the heat, especially earth-dwelling ones like him, and soon it’d be cold enough to justify wearing a puffy coat, one of Felix’s favourite items of clothing that was both extremely comfortable to wear _and_ covered his wings.

Felix thought his walk home couldn’t get any better when suddenly he caught sight of a familiar face. His bright eyes pulled up into crescents when a red gaze met his, the friendly face belonging to the vampire perched on a bench outside the music school.

The vampire was Chan, a producing student with an immortal mum gene and a talent for all things musical. He was one of the seven new dormmates Felix had been living with for just over two months.

There were eight of them living in the dorm in total; four humans and four supernaturals. Felix had originally thought that a vampire like Chan wouldn’t take very kindly to an angel like him.

Felix had been seriously wrong.

“Lixie!” Chan chirped, springing up from his seat to wrap his arms around Felix’s shoulders and pull him close.

Chan’s hands got a little too close to a sore spot. Felix tensed.

“Are you okay?” Chan quickly pulled away, pouting as he ran his red eyes over Felix’s rigid shoulders, “Are you cold?”

Felix didn’t hesitate to nod, jumping at an excuse for why he could be so tense. Chan didn’t think before he took a step back and Felix felt a little bad. As someone who was technically dead, Chan was always extremely cold and Felix didn’t like the idea of Chan blaming himself for distressing Felix.

But then Chan smiled as he held out his takeaway coffee cup for Felix, gesturing and smiling at him to take some. Chan may have not needed sustenance to keep him going, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a vampire with a caffeine addiction like no other.

“Thanks, hyung,” Felix smiled, reaching out and clasping delicate fingers around the cup, wincing as he tipped it up and the bitter liquid slid down his throat, “You waiting for class?”

Chan nodded, immediately launching into a spiel about what he was excited to learn about for the day, rambling about things Felix didn’t understand and swinging his laptop bag back and forth on his shoulder.

Felix smiled, both because Chan and was cute and because he seemed to have forgotten about Felix tensing from his hug. Felix hadn’t really tensed because Chan was cold, Felix had tensed because Chan had almost touched his wings.

As a winged angel, Felix hadn’t always been praised for his wings. Many people saw him as an unnecessary inconvenience, some people considered him even worse; told him that he shouldn’t live on earth, that he didn’t belong, that he was a danger to society and no better than a criminal.

Felix had learnt to take the words, but the actions sometimes got a little hard to bear.

What Chan and the other dormmates didn’t know was that the reason Felix had moved in with them in the middle of the school year was because Felix had gotten kicked out of his last dorm. He’d had his wings out one day and actually knocked over a glass in the kitchen.

His ex-roommate had absolutely royally kicked off, screaming at Felix, accusing him of being a menace, of breaking people’s things on purpose, of trying to hurt them all.

Against the university board, Felix hadn’t really had a leg to stand on, and he’d been forced to move out to a dorm most of the uni considered ‘improper’. Mainly because half of its occupants were supernaturals.

Felix’s new roommates, Chan and his friends, were all super lovely and Felix had genuinely enjoyed getting to know them all. But the insecure, terrified little angel cherub inside him had been too scared to let his wings out around them yet.

He’d kept them bound to the point Chan and his friends didn’t even _know_ Felix had wings.

They’d lived with him for over two months, and yet had no idea about the two extra limbs strapped to him.

Felix had gotten to a place now where he was sure that if he finally did tell them, they’d be completely understanding. But he couldn’t take the risk, not when he already liked them so much.

If they kicked Felix out, it would shatter Felix’s heart.

So, Felix continued to shoulder his pain and his wings alone. It was the way it had to be.

Felix was soon pulled out his thoughts by pale, veiny fingers suddenly snapping in his face.

“Felix? Angel?” Chan was saying, using the petname him and the other dormmates all found hilarious because Felix literally was an actual angel, “You okay? You zoned out a little.”

All his thoughts jumbled away as Felix shook his head, trying to bring himself back to the present. He managed a smile at Chan, beaming at the small tendrils of concern in his eyes. Chan was too sweet for his own good, Felix knew that he would seriously hate to lose him.

So, Felix chirped an ‘ _I’m good, hyung!_ ’, making up an excuse about being tired from class rather than explaining that he was worried about Chan finding out about his wings.

Chan didn’t seem to believe the answer, but he accepted it anyway.

“Alright, if you’re sure,” he said, giving Felix a look to show he didn’t believe him, Felix just dropped his gaze, “Go back to the dorm and get some rest. I’m sure Jisung will cuddle you if you ask.”

Felix smiled, admittedly quite pleased with the idea. He’d earned quite a reputation for being the ‘big spoon’ of the house. Partly because he absolutely loved to cuddle everyone and everything, partly because it kept whoever he was cuddling away from his back, making sure they didn’t accidentally find his wings.

Jisung, as probably the world’s littlest spoon, absolutely loved Felix for it and the two of them were frequently found curled up together on various sofas and beds in the dorm.

Felix gave Chan a pleasant nod, handing him back his coffee cup and smiling at him.

“Alright, hyung,” Felix said, “Have a good class! There might be some brownies waiting for you when you get back.”

At the words, Chan’s face broke out into a large grin. Even with no need for food, Chan had fallen in love with Felix’s baking just as much as the other dormmates had. Almost passing out when Felix had once made an extra batch of cookies infused with blood to see how it would taste to vampires.

Safe to say, Chan’s explosive reaction made sure that Felix immediately found as many ways to experiment with vampire-baking as he could, always making an additional blood batch of whatever he was making for Chan.

It made Chan happy, and it was funny whenever Hyunjin mixed the plates up and ended up spitting red-tinged baked goods all over the floor.

“You’re the best, Lix!” Chan clapped at him, his laptop bouncing extra-hard on his shoulder, “Thank heaven and hell that the university decided to gift us with a culinary student.”

Felix laughed, “Don’t be dramatic, hyung,” he said, “You were doing fine without me before.”

“I honestly don’t think we were,” Chan jokingly shook his head at him, “How were we even living without your brownies and pasta and steak and all other things delicious?”

“Probably living off takeout and coffee,” Felix rolled his eyes, “Maybe it’s good I’m here now. I’ve got a couple new recipes from class to try, that should keep you all alive a bit longer.”

“This is probably where I point out that I technically don’t _need_ your recipes to be alive,” Chan drawled, risking a glance at Felix’s face before he carried on, “But I also value your cooking, so I’m not going to do that.”

“Hmm,” Felix hummed and crossed his arms, levelling a fake-glare at Chan, “Don’t you have to class to get to?”

Chan cast a look behind him to where all the students had started to file into the building before turning back to Felix and grinning, “Saved by the bell, eh?”

Felix laughed at him, “Yeah something like that,” he said, “Have a good class, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Lix,” Chan waved at him before turning to hurry to the building, throwing a shout over his shoulder, “Get some rest before you bake! Can’t have you collapsing face-first into the batter.”

At least 10 students whipped round to look at Chan as he yelled the words, seeing his retreating back flee into the music building before turning to see a blushing Felix stood staring after him, exasperation and endearment plastered all over his face.

Felix could only shake his head and turn to make his way back to his dorm, starting to question if he did really like his dormmates or not.

But, of course, it didn’t take a genius to see that Felix absolutely adored them. Which was all the more reason for him to make sure he didn’t give them a reason to hate him.

Felix had already been kicked out a dorm once for his wings. He couldn’t, he just couldn’t, let it happen again. Especially now that he had so much more to lose.

It wasn’t just Chan he loved. Felix loved all seven of his roommates.

He loved their chaos and their humour and the way they completely and absolutely cared for each other no matter what, Felix included. They’d made him feel welcome the moment he walked in the door and hadn’t stopped doting on him since.

Felix couldn’t give them a reason to leave him behind.

So, he continued his walk back in silence, his hands stuffed in his pocket and his wings heavy on his back. Felix would hide them for as long as he needed to, that’s what society wanted of him anyway.

He could let them out in his room and his room only. That’s already what Felix had been doing whenever they needed grooming or stretching. His dormmates were pretty good with knocking, so he wasn’t worried about anyone finding out.

But, Felix couldn’t help but think as he let himself into his building, taking the stairs to the floor their dorm was on, life always had a way of playing surprises. There was always the possibility that something could go wrong. Dark secrets often had a way of clawing themselves into the light, usually behind the secret keeper’s back.

And Felix’s secret was quite literally behind his back.

If the dormmates found out about Felix’s wings by accident… he couldn’t imagine it.

Worse, what if he broke something again? What if he really did give them a reason to hate him?

Felix forced himself to shake the thoughts away as he finally reached their door. He pulled out his keys with a shaky hand, fumbling to let himself in. Even if things did go wrong in the future, he was safe for now, and that was all he could ask for.

Felix had to make the most of the time he could enjoy with his dormmates.

So, Felix took a detour to his room, throwing down his bag and shedding his shoes before venturing off to their kitchen-living-room-area to see if anyone was home. Felix knew they were a social lot and liked to pile together on the sofas and study together at the table. If anyone was home, they’d be there.

A whole chorus of greetings welcomed Felix when he poked his head into the room.

He smiled, his heart dipping with jellybeans and his fingers tingling like marshmallows.

“Lix!” Jeongin called from where he was on the floor being crushed by Hyunjin and Jisung, “You’re home just in time! Please save me from these rascals!”

Felix grinned down at them. Hyunjin, Jisung and Jeongin were three of the dorm humans. Changbin, the last human, was sat at the table, thick headphones over his ears playing a beat Felix could just about hear.

“I see Changbin-hyung couldn’t rush to your aid?” Felix said, deciding to step around the three boys on the floor and shuffle to the kitchen.

“Yeah, he’s got the right idea with the headphones,” Seungmin muttered as Felix approached him, turning to give Felix a welcoming nod.

Felix nodded back, knowing that was a warm greeting when it came to Seungmin. Seungmin was a demon; all jet-black eyes and red hair and sharp teeth. He wasn’t accustomed to all human habits, but Felix had learnt all Seungmin’s weird quirks and traits, and had figured out that Seungmin had his own ways of showing affection.

Seungmin, amongst many other things, had a firm personality and was probably the most rational thinker of them all. But he used his logic to fuel his protectiveness, he loved strongly and fully and he expressed it in a way that Felix had noticed within minutes of meeting him.

Demons and angels were supposed to hate each other, but Felix couldn’t help but gravitate towards Seungmin. He too had been judged for his supernatural status and seemed overly-willing to take Felix under his wing (no pun intended).

Also, it was no secret that Seungmin had a soft spot for puppies, brownies and his dormmates. He was an intimidating demon with a mile-long soft-spot and Felix couldn’t help but love him.

“Good day?” Seungmin hummed as he watched Felix start to pull ingredients from various cupboards, “You cooking already?”

“Baking,” Felix corrected, ignoring the pains tinging in his back as he shrugged, “Chan-hyung told me to rest first, but what he know won’t kill him.”

“No, nothing can kill him,” Seungmin responded, eyes narrowing at Felix.

Felix couldn’t help but shiver, Seungmin always had a way of seeing right through him. He was the hardest one to keep his wings hidden from.

“You don’t have to bake now, Lix,” Seungmin said, his voice a touch gentler, “You can do it later. Send the rascals to me if they start pestering you.”

Felix cast a glance to the ‘rascals’, grinning at the sight of Hyunjin now sat cross-legged on the floor with Jisung braiding his hair and Jeongin trying to reach through them to get his gaming controller.

“Something tells me they’ll be pre-occupied for a while,” Felix waved a hand at them, “And it’s fine, I’d rather do this now. I’ve got to catch up on the lecture today and this is the best way to procrastinate.”

Something flashed in Seungmin’s eyes at that, his gaze narrowing.

“That’s like the fourth lecture in a row you’ve had to go over,” he said, “Why are you not paying attention whilst you’re there? Or just ignoring them completely and then forgetting about them afterwards like every other student.”

“That’s a little difficult when you have impossible, meticulous recipes to follow,” Felix laughed, glad Seungmin didn’t seem too suspicious about his recent lecture habits, “And I’m fine with paying attention. The lecturer just drones on and on and his voice is probably enough to send even a siren to sleep.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s understandable,” Seungmin snorted as he tilted his head, seeming to accept the answer.

He took a step back and leapt up to sit on the counter, dangling his feet over the edge and kicking them against the cupboards. Felix worked around him, collecting his ingredients and humming to the music he could hear from Changbin’s headphones. Hyunjin, Jisung and Jeongin continued to bicker from the sofa.

Felix was able to forget all about the pain down his back.

That was until a sudden set of crashing footsteps exploded outside the door and it smacked against the wall as it was thrown open.

Felix jumped so hard he fell back, hitting his shin on an open cupboard door and tumbling backwards right into Seungmin.

Seungmin thankfully managed to wrap two strong arms around Felix’s waist and keep him upright, but that didn’t stop agony from sizzling all the way up Felix’s spine, reverberating strongly through his wings.

A whimper tumbled from Felix’s lips and he winced at the feeling of Seungmin’s eyes suddenly boring into him.

“Sorry, Lix!” Minho called out to them, his body clattering his way over from the doorway and skipping over to gently grab Felix’s hands and pull him upright, “I just smelt cookies and I wanted to tackle Jisung in case he got to them first.”

“The last time you did that you ended up pre-maturely grabbing a blood-laced one _and_ shoved Jisung so hard he did a roly-poly over the sofa,” Felix muttered, giving Minho a small smile before stepping away and lifting a hand to rub over his back.

Seungmin frowned at him, eyeing the movement of Felix’s hand, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Felix turned back to the oven, not wanting to catch sigh of Seungmin’s calculating eyes and Minho’s worried pout, “I just think I need some rest after these brownies are done.”

“I can’t believe I ran into the kitchen and the brownies weren’t even ready,” Minho grumbled, giving Seungmin a glare when he whacked him on the shoulder.

“That’s what you get for being aggressive, idiot,” Seungmin said pointedly.

“As if you can talk about being aggressive, Kim Seungmin!” Minho levelled back, giving Seungmin an evil grin before turning on his heel and going to throw himself down at the table next to Changbin, almost knocking all his papers onto the floor.

Felix allowed himself a grin at the scene. Minho was a lot like Seungmin, but also different in many ways. He was a fae, an absolutely beautiful heavenly creature. He had solid gold eyes, with carved white markings that ran over his forehead and the tops of his cheeks. His hair was dark blue and soft and fluffy, glazed with glitter and glowing almost as bright as he did.

Minho was a supernatural creature born to be beautiful, probably the supernatural creature valued most by society. And one conversation with Minho was all it took to know why; he was smart, eagle-eyed, witty and caring in an unnaturally natural way.

Also, Felix had once noted, if Minho had been born a few centuries ago then he would have been born with wings. Probably ones quite different to Felix’s. The olden faes had small, golden, dragonfly wings, whilst angel wings were large and white and feathered. But, regardless of the differences, Minho was still a creature that had once proudly carried the wing gene.

The thought was admittedly able to bring a small semblance of comfort to Felix. Even if Minho didn’t have wings himself, there was a fair chance that he’d be accepting of Felix’s wings if he ever found out about them.

But that still wasn’t a risk Felix was prepared to take.

Felix managed to ignore the pain in his back as he finished in the kitchen, but it didn’t go away completely. It was getting more and more tempting to lock himself in his room, un-bind his wings and collapse on his bed. His poor muscles were practically begging him to give them a rest and Felix could only bite his lip and stare at his brownies through the oven door as he silently begged for them to bake quicker.

Seungmin’s eyes bore into him the whole time, and Felix was struggling not to sink under his gaze.

“You know, Lix?” Seungmin eventually said, making Felix jump, “You don’t have to bake for us all the time. If you’re tired, or if there’s… something else, then you don’t have to do this for us. We’d all understand.”

Felix looked up at him from where he was crouched in front of the oven, “Min,” Felix swallowed around the word, “There isn’t… something else. I’m fine.”

“Hm,” Seungmin just hummed, suggesting that he didn’t believe Felix for a second, but then he just shrugged and smiled, “It doesn’t matter either way. I just thought you should know that it’s okay for you to rest first sometimes.”

“Thanks, Min,” Felix smiled back shyly, “And I promise, I really will be going for a lie-down once these are done.”

“Alright,” Seungmin winked at him, “I’ll make sure the others don’t bother you.”

“Don’t annoy them too much,” Felix laughed as he turned back to the oven, smiling at the sight of his brownies cooking nicely.

It was only a few more minutes before they were completely done and Seungmin helped Felix off the floor and took the brownies out the oven with him. Together, they moved all the treats onto a cooling rack and chattered to each other about how good they smelt.

Chan walked in just as they were done, his now empty coffee cup still in his hand and backpack on his shoulder, hair tousled form the wind outside. He raised an eyebrow at Felix when he realised that he hadn’t rested yet, but Felix just shrugged and patted his shoulder as he walked past, now worried about nothing but relaxing.

But, that wasn’t entirely true. Felix held his breath all the way to his room, not releasing it until he had locked his door and pulled his hoodie off, fingers beginning to work at the ropes keeping his wings bound to him.

It took far too long fiddling with all the ties and Felix was practically bent-double by the time he was done, entire body screaming with aches and exhaustion.

It was when he was finally laid down, wings flat against him and panting against his pillow, that Felix realised he didn’t know how much longer he could go on, how much longer his wings and body and mind could take such treatment.

Felix wanted to keep his wings a secret, he really did, but he didn’t know if he could.

His dormmates, whether it was by Felix’s choice or not, were going to have to find out eventually…

Felix supposed he could at least take a nap first before freaking out.

Maybe his wings would feel better when he woke up.

~

Felix’s wings did feel better, but only marginally, and only for a short amount of time.

The more days passed; the more Felix realised his wings were getting worse.

It wasn’t exactly healthy to keep them bound for long amounts of time and, whilst Felix was used to doing it for long school days, he usually didn’t have to do it during his home-life as well. Keeping them so hidden in the dorm was beginning to take its toll.

Felix was starting to lose feathers at a faster rate than usual and he didn’t know what was more stressful; the implications that had about the health of his wings, or the fact that he kept finding white feathers on the floor behind him and had to quickly grab them before any nosy dormmates saw.

So much for keeping the wings a secret.

Felix had been trying to make up for it by spending more time outside the dorm, taking an extra cooking classes and doing his homework in the library and camping in coffee shops whenever he needed a break.

It meant there was less opportunity for Felix’s dormmates to find anything, but it also meant his wings had to be bound for longer. So, when Felix was in the dorm, he had to retreat straight to his room to let his wings out and stay there until they were ready to bind again.

He knew his dormmates were starting to get worried about his lack of appearance around them, but he had no idea how to explain things.

If it were up to Felix his wings would be kept secret forever, but his wings didn’t seem to like the idea of that.

It was one night when the pain seemed to be particularly bad.

Felix was walking home in the dark after spending a few hours hunched over recipe books and coffee-shop green teas in the library. He hadn’t been out the dorm since the morning and his feet were heavy as he finally dragged them home.

His wings were even heavier, protesting fiercely against their binds and burning down his back like feathers of fire.

Felix just groaned silently himself as he continued to walk home.

He couldn’t even bring himself to admire to pretty autumn evening. The trees were really starting to shed, looking spooky and regal as they stretched out their bare branches, the ground crunching with the splattering of gorgeous red leaves all over the paths.

Felix was wearing his favourite thick white hoodie with a denim jacket over the top. His fluffy silver hair was sticking out a red knitted beanie and his legs were being hugged by some black skinny jeans, leading down to a pair of thick boots with light pink shoelaces.

The air was fizzling with cold, Felix starting to shiver as he walked despite all the layers he was wearing. But he savoured the feeling, it felt nice against his rough skin, cold against the flames in his back, calm against the pain curling through his body and twisting in his mind.

But the silence didn’t last long.

It was, however, a pleasant interruption.

“Felix! Lix!”

Felix startled at the sound of the voice, whipping round at the footsteps pounding outwards him from behind. He tensed for a second, but sighed in relief at the sight of Minho running towards him, his hair whipping behind him and backpack whacking him repeatedly in the side.

But, most noticeable of all, Minho’s golden eyes were glowing gorgeously in the dark, probably shining just as brightly as Felix’s crystallised blue ones.

“Hey, hyung,” Felix smiled as Minho stopped about a foot away from him, doubling over with the harsh pants that rocked him from running so fast, “What are you doing out so late?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Minho managed, looking up at Felix through curly, messy hair, “I was on my way to waste some of the night in the dance studio, you?”

Felix nodded at the words, not needing to ask anything to understand them. Minho was the dance major of the house and Felix had seen him enough times to know he was damn talented. He’d also royally freaked out when he’d found out that Felix also had a hobby for dancing, and the two of them danced together frequently.

Although, that hadn’t happened much recently. Mainly because Felix didn’t know how well he could dance with his back pain.

“Just coming back from the library,” Felix shrugged as he answered Minho’s question, “Was just on my way back to the dorm now.”

“You haven’t been home all day?” Minho frowned as he stood back up, eyes raking over Felix.

Felix just shrugged casually, “I guess,” he said, like he hadn’t planned the fact he wouldn’t be at the dorm, “I’ve just had a lot of work to do lately.”

“That sucks,” Minho pouted at him, his narrowed eyes giving away that he was carefully calculating Felix, trying to figure out how much truth he was telling. Or, worse, how much truth Felix was keeping hidden.

Apart from Seungmin, Minho was definitely the hardest to keep secrets from. The two of them were just too darn clever, and way too sneaky to be considered moral. Felix could only be glad that one gene that angels had actually managed to officially shed was their inability to lie. They’d discovered pretty quickly they couldn’t survive in a human society like that.

“I miss you,” Minho’s voice cut once more through the silence, sounding too quiet, too hopeful for Felix’s liking. Felix felt his chest tighten at the words.

“I miss you too,” Felix managed to say back, trying to smile as he looked at Minho, “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve just had classes and work and… some stuff to think about.”

“You don’t have to apologise,” Minho shook his head at him, pausing for a moment, “And whatever it is you’ve been thinking about, I promise it’ll be okay.”

Felix allowed himself to actually smile at the words this time, feeling a familiar warmth start to bloom in his chest. It was only then that he realised just how much he’d missed all his friends.

“And, hey, I kinda have an idea,” Minho spoke up again, his own smile playing against his lips, “I know you’re tired and probably over-worked, but why don’t you come with me to the dance studio for a bit? We both know it’s the perfect way to blow off some steam.”

Felix’s smile faltered, the warm feeling in his chest starting to twist into something shameful. Minho’s offer sounded so good, so perfect, but Felix could still feel the twinges all down his shoulders. He didn’t think he could dance if he tried.

“I don’t know…” Felix looked away as he trailed off, fiddling with his fingers, “It’s getting late and I kinda want to go to bed.”

The words were only a half-lie.

“Just for a little bit,” Minho pouted, his golden eyes shining with what looked like the whole universe, “We haven’t hung out in ages. I feel like I haven’t seen you dance in forever.”

The words were like a punch to the gut. Felix looked to the ground, feeling guilt and shame start to swirl in his chest. He’d been too busy focused on trying to keep his secret from the group, that he hadn’t considered what it could potentially be doing to them.

And Felix would have been lying if he said he didn’t want to dance.

“Well, I am kinda achy from being hunched in the library all day,” Felix said quietly, giving Minho a small smile, “But-”

“But you love your Minho-hyung so much that you’re going to come anyway and let me drag you around the studio and then I’ll drag you to bed afterwards because you’re such a kind angel and I love you so much!” Minho interrupted, his face breaking out into a wide grin as he surged forward and grabbed both Felix’s wrists, “Am I right?!”

Felix couldn’t help but laugh as he looked up at Minho, “You might be a little right…”

“There’s my Felix!” Minho jumped up and down, giving Felix’s wrists a squeeze before reaching up and flicking him on the end of the nose, “Trust me, this will take all your stress away.”

Felix pursed his lips, knowing dancing would probably only make his problems worse (and didn’t Felix just hate saying that) but he’d do anything for Minho, even if it meant taking a bit of pain to make him happy.

“Come on, hyung,” Felix said, pulling Minho into his side and holding his hand as he walked off in the direction of the dance studio, “Lets get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit!” Minho chirped, a spring in his step as he took over being the one to lead them along, “You’re in for a fun night, Lee Felix.”

Felix could only shake his head and smile, trying not to let himself get shifted around too much as Minho continued to drag him along.

It didn’t take too long for the two of them to reach the dance studio, finding an empty mirrored-room and Felix letting go of Minho so he could go plug his phone into the speaker. Neither of them bothered switching the lights on, dancing in the dark was always exciting and the moonlight shimming through the windows was more than enough to keep them from crashing into one another.

Felix started by slumping against the mirror, watching Minho warm up. He shed his denim jacket and tried to roll up the bottom of his skinny jeans, using those and his tiredness as an excuse not to start dancing yet.

But Minho was one to only take excuses for so long and soon Felix was tugged into the middle of the room, letting himself move to the fast beat that was pulsing through the speakers.

The first two songs were okay, and Felix actually felt himself start to loosen up, realising just how much he’d missed the feeling of music in his veins and Minho’s laughter in his ear.

The stress practically started to melt away, his face beaming with his smile and his lips even moving along to the words blasting through the room. He met eyes with Minho, feeling his last doubt fade away as he lunged into the dance.

That was Felix’s mistake.

It was a move involving their shoulders, a windmill-like rotation that meant Felix had to throw both his arms up and swing them around. It started off okay, and then Felix’s wings shifted sharply and agony roared all through his body like fire.

Felix cried out. Both his arms toppled down, his legs buckling and his knees hitting the floor. He lowered his head, his hair falling in his face and harsh pants leaving his mouth.

His back continued to sizzle, his wings fighting taut against their binds and screaming with pain.

Felix really shouldn’t have danced.

He realised that even harder at the feeling of the aftershocks reverberating down his back, but he didn’t realise just how much he’d screwed up until he suddenly tuned into Minho’s voice yelling from next to him.

“Lix! Felix! What’s going on? Are you okay?” Minho was saying, knelt next to Felix with his hands hovering over him, seeming not to know where Felix’s pain was coming from, “Felix?”

“I’m okay,” Felix managed to pant out, briefly looking up at Minho through his hair, “I-I’m sorry, this is my fault.”

Minho frowned, his questioning eyes roaming all over Felix before they landed on the shaking of his back.

“Is your back okay?” Minho said, starting to shift to sit behind Felix, “You cried out in pain and your hunched over really weirdly.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Felix tried to say, but the words shook as he said them, “Minho-hyung, I’m okay!”

But even as Felix spoke, Minho continued to shuffle behind him, holding out his hands like he was going to touch Felix’s shoulder.

Felix couldn’t but flinch.

The pain sizzled all through him again, making him hiss and hunch over further, pained grunts leaving his mouth through gritted teeth. He felt Minho’s hand land on the back of his neck, tangling in his hair.

“Lix, please tell me what hurts,” Minho said, his voice too close to Felix’s ear, sounding almost scared as he spoke.

Felix gulped. He had never heard Minho sound like that before.

Minho was always strong… always protective… always firm and clear with his words. But now Minho sounded unsure, like he didn’t know what to do. Felix hated himself for making Minho sound like that.

“It’s fine, hyung,” Felix managed to say, the words clawing their way around his teeth, “It-it’s my fault anyway, you don’t need to be worried.”

The words only seemed to worry Minho even more, his grip tightening slightly on the back of Felix’s neck.

A second of silence stretched between them, broken only by the sound of Felix’s harsh pants. Felix could practically hear the cogs turning in Minho’s mind, trying to work out what was going on.

The cogs seemed to stop as a looming sense of dread came over Felix.

“Yongbok, I’m going to look at your back,” Minho said, his voice certain and pointed in a way Felix knew he’d never really be able to argue with.

But, still Felix tried.

“Hyung, don’t!” Felix cried out, trying to twist around to face Minho, but Minho had a hand firmly gripping his shoulder and Felix basically collapsed at the movement, a pained yelp leaving him as he doubled over where he was slumped on the floor.

Maybe moving fast wasn’t Felix’s brightest idea.

Minho seemed to have the same thought, a soft ‘ _shhh_ ’ leaving his lips as he carefully stroked a thumb over Felix’s shoulder, helping him ride out the wave of the pain.

“Whatever this is,” Minho said, his voice soft but firm, “We’re going to fix it, okay Lixie? But I need to take a look first.”

With that, both Minho’s hands retreated down to the bottom of Felix’s hoodie, fingers curling under it.

“No, don’t…” Felix tried to say, but his voice was too weak and his body wasn’t listening to him anymore.

He felt tears of desperation start to gather in his eyes, blurring the floor in front of him and making him want to yell.

But Felix couldn’t do anything, couldn’t do anything as he felt Minho securely grab the back of his hoodie and pull it upwards, probably expecting to have to pull up Felix’s t-shirt next.

What Minho most definitely wasn’t expecting was two ruffled white wings tied to Felix’s back…

His gasp rang all around the room, Felix wincing and curling into himself at the sound of it, a pathetic whimper leaving his lips. He lifted a hand to his own shoulder, digging his fingernails into it and trying to keep a grip on himself.

He could feel the cold air against his wings, could feel his feathers start to flutter, could feel Minho’s eyes staring straight into them like bullets.

Felix couldn’t bring himself to look up at the mirror, couldn’t bring himself to see the look on Minho’s face.

But then a soft hand reached out, tender fingertips stroking ever-so-slightly against some of the feathers sticking out Felix’s wings.

A shiver rippled all down Felix’s back.

The hand retracted, followed closely by another gasp from Minho. Felix struggled to pull in a breath, braving just a glance up at the mirror, staring at where Minho was frozen over Felix’s back.

Felix swallowed heavily, his gaze travelling back to the floor.

“H-Hyung,” Felix managed to say, the word trembling as it left its mouth.

That’s when Minho seemed to be snapped back to the real world, his limbs locking into place and his body lurching forward. He quickly helped lift the rest of the hoodie over Felix’s head. Felix let out a gasp as his wings were finally out.

But Minho didn’t stop, he gave Felix one last shoulder squeeze before scrambling round to crouch in front of him, his hand coming out to carefully grip Felix’s chin.

“Felix,” Minho said as he lifted Felix’s gaze, his golden eyes staring straight into Felix’s, “It’s okay.”

The words were simple, so very simple, but they hit Felix like a pound to the chest. He couldn’t help but choke on a sob, his face crumbling as a single tear fell from his eye.

“You were never supposed to see,” Felix said, fighting to keep back the rest of his sobs, “I never should have agreed to dance. I knew I couldn’t do it.”

“Hey, none of that now,” Minho said, his voice softer this time, his other hand coming forward to tenderly wipe away Felix’s tear, “You can still dance. You can do anything you put your mind to.”

“But… but you saw my wings,” Felix couldn’t help but let the confusion leak into his voice, his bottom lip starting to wobble, “They’re so, _so_ hard to hide.”

Minho’s eyes changed at that, his soft determined look changing to something sad. He pursed his lips, pausing for a second before his grip on Felix’s chin moved to cup his cheek.

“You don’t have to hide anything. Lixie,” Minho said softly, his thumb stroking gently over Felix’s freckles, “Not in front of me. Never in front of me.”

Felix hitched on a breath, his heart starting to stammer in his chest, “Not even my wings?”

“Not even your wings,” Minho said without even a beat of hesitation, and Felix felt himself crumble, “Oh, Yongbokkie, it’s okay.”

With that, Minho quickly planted his butt against the floor, spreading his legs out and pulling Felix into his chest. He was careful not to touch Felix’s back as he started rubbing small circles against the skin of his shoulder, obviously noticing the sorry state of Felix’s wings and seeming to realise that they were what was causing Felix so much pain.

“You don’t have to touch me if you don’t want,” Felix tried to say, but Minho was shushing him and nuzzling his nose into his hair before he could finish.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Minho said, starting to rock Felix back and forth, “I’ll always touch you and hold you and cuddle when you need. Your wings change _nothing_ , okay? Absolutely nothing.”

The lump in Felix’s throat almost exploded at the words, all his worries and fears and worst nightmares seeming to freeze inside him. He buried his face in Minho’s chest, falling into his embrace and letting himself be held.

Minho still loved him.

Felix’s wings were out and Minho still loved him.

“I can’t believe you were able to hide this so long,” Minho whispered, Felix peeking his eyes out Minho’s chest and looking up to see Minho staring at his wings, “Do any of the others know?”

Felix shook his head, “No,” he murmured, “I was too scared to tell anyone.”

“Well, you don’t need to be scared of me,” Minho said straight away, an inkling of determination moulding its way into his voice that Felix couldn’t help but smile at. Minho met his eyes, smiling back.

“Thanks, hyung,” Felix said, and Minho’s smile faltered slightly.

“Don’t thank me,” he said, poking Felix on the end of the nose, “If anyone _ever_ gives you a reason to be scared of them, or a reason to hide, then come to me, okay? I’ll put them right.”

As he spoke, Minho’s eyes flashed an extra bright gold, his fae senses kicking in and powering him up, reminding Felix of the true beauty and the ultimate strength of the one who was holding him.

“Okay, hyung,” Felix nodded at him, pausing for a second as his hand came up to fiddle with Minho’s shirt collar. He wondered how to phrase his next question, how to approach a topic that he’d kept locked up for weeks and had now just shattered in front of him.

“Do you think…” Felix paused to bite his lip, diverting his eyes away from Minho, “Do you think the others would care that they were living with a winged creature?”

Minho’s face immediately hardened, his fingers quickly coming to tug Felix’s gaze back to him.

“I don’t think they’d care for a second,” Minho said, sounding so sure, so certain, that Felix almost allowed himself to believe him, “And if they did have a problem, then they’ll have to deal with me.”

Felix couldn’t hold back a laugh at the declaration, ignoring the way his wings flared slightly at the movement.

“You’d kick them out of their own home, hyung?” Felix couldn’t help but say, half-joking, half-serious.

“It’s your home too,” Minho answered, squeezing Felix’s shoulder at the words, “And if anyone had a problem with that, then yes I’d do whatever was necessary to make sure you continue to be safe there.”

Warmth exploded in Felix’s chest at the statement, his hand gripping tighter to Minho’s shirt and pulling him closer to Minho, nuzzling against his chest.

Felix almost started crying again when he realised he’d never felt so loved.

“Just don’t tell the others yet, okay?” he said, voice muffled by Minho’s shirt, “I just… need a little bit longer.”

“Everything is completely safe with me,” Minho said softly, his hand tangling in the back of Felix’s hair, “If you ever need help, please let me know. I don’t know much about wings, but I know you’re probably not supposed to be keeping them bound for so long, right?”

“No,” Felix shook his head, shifting back a little so he could speak freely again, “And my wings have been suffering recently because of it, which is why dance probably wasn’t the best idea.”

Minho pouted at that, probably remembering that he had been the one to drag Felix to the studio, “I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault,” Felix shook his head again, “I’m the one who should be better at handling this.”

“You don’t need to get better at anything, Lix,” Minho said, the pout now audible in his voice, “And now you’ve got me to help. If you ever need anyone to help un-bind your wings, or if you just want company when letting your wings out in your room, then I’ll be there.”

Felix couldn’t hold back the smile from his voice, giggling as he looked up at Minho, “Thanks, hyung.”

“Don’t thank me, I’m honoured,” Minho said, pausing for a moment as he his eyes strayed back to Felix’s wings.

He seemed to struggle for a moment, his hands twitching against Felix’s shoulders. Felix watched as he opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again, biting his lip before trying again.

“Can I…” Minho said, reaching out his hand to hover near Felix’s back, “Can I touch them?”

Felix startled for a second, not having expected the question. But then he looked behind him at the gentle flutter of his wings, at the ruffled broken feathers and the way they had almost fallen out the bonds. Felix realised just how much he’d missed taking care of them.

“Yeah, you can touch them, hyung,” Felix said quietly, diverting his gaze to the ground, “Just please be gentle.”

“Of course,” Minho nodded firmly to himself, “Tell me if you want me to stop.”

Felix didn’t say anything to that, just waited as Minho shifted slightly to get better access to his back. Felix almost tensed, knowing no one had touched his wings in a long time and that the state they were in meant it would probably hurt.

But then he felt the slightest, just the tiniest, brush of fingertips against some feathers and he almost melted.

A quiet groan left Felix’s lips, his entire body melting even further into Minho’s chest. Minho chuckled at the action, getting a little braver as he fingers continued to stroke gently over the edges of Felix’s wings.

“Does that feel nice?” Minho said, a small swirl of awe and a touch of amusement in his voice.

“You have no idea,” Felix muttered, his voice deeper and lighter than usual, dripping with pleasure and relaxation.

Minho was being so gentle… so tender. It felt absolutely heavenly against the sore spots on Felix’s wings, his shoulders finally un-tensing and his back finally relaxing after what felt like weeks of built-up pain.

Felix pulled in a deep breath for the first time in at least a month, his feathers tingling at the soft, luxurious fingers carefully stroking through them.

Both of them were silent for a few more minutes, the only sounds being Felix’s soft murmurs and the song Minho had started humming under his breath. The air seemed to shift around them, gently blanketing the room and lulling them into a rest state.

Felix felt like he had finally gone back to heaven, his wings rippling pleasantly with such nice treatment. He was definitely going to have to take up Minho’s offer of more help.

But then Minho broke the silence, his voice still silky and sweet, but the words carrying plenty of weight.

“You know, Jisung once told me that he wished faes like me still had wings,” Minho said, Felix feeling himself perk up a little at the words, “He said he thought wings were beautiful, that I’d really suit them.”

Felix shifted to look up at Minho, staring at his chin as Minho continued to rake his eyes over Felix’s wings.

“Really?” Felix couldn’t help but say, having never heard anyone in the house talk about wings before.

“Really,” Minho nodded, a small smile against his lips, “But now I think Jisung was being crazy.”

The words crashed down against Felix, his whole body tensing again.

“You think Jisung was crazy for liking wings?” Felix blurted, worry building all over again in his chest.

“No, not at all,” Minho said, his smile widening as he tangled his fingers in a handful of Felix’s feathers, “I think Jisung was crazy for saying that my wings would be beautiful, when they’d be absolutely nothing compared to yours.”

The words processed for a second in Felix’s mind, and then he suddenly breathed a huge sigh of relief. His heart skipped a beat, his cheeks flaming with red as he tried to hide his face.

“You think my wings are beautiful?” he said, almost feeling too embarrassed to hear the answer when Minho giggled.

“I think they’re absolutely stunning,” Minho said, his voice practically dripping with diamonds, landing pleasantly all over Felix, “And they look huge too. They must stretch far when they’re unbound.”

Felix hummed, looking back behind him at his wings again, “Yeah, they do,” he said, “It’s a bit of a nightmare to be honest.”

“Well, I think it’s a dream come true,” Minho didn’t miss a beat before he spoke, throwing Felix one of his dazzling smiles, “You can totally say no to me if you want. But, one day, could I maybe see your wings when they’re out? See them all stretched and majestic on your back?”

Felix couldn’t help but smile back, nodding enthusiastically, “Of course you can, hyung,” he said, realising elatedly that he genuinely was excited by the idea, “You just might have to wait for me to sort them out a little first.”

“Take your time,” Minho said, his voice dripping with excitement, “Thank you so much, Lix.”

“No, hyung,” Felix bumped his head against Minho’s chest, “Thank _you_.”

Minho just giggled at the words, pulling his fingers out Felix’s feathers to wrap both arms around his shoulders and pull him close. Felix let himself be held, feeling some of his stress and worries melt into the air with the embrace.

Even if it wasn’t everyone that knew, it was still progress. Felix hadn’t felt so free in a long time.

“I know this was all kinda an accident,” Minho whispered into Felix’s hair, “But I’m really glad I dragged you to the dance studio tonight.”

Felix smiled warmly, his heart beating happily at the words.

“I’m glad too,” Felix said, only snuggling himself further into Minho when he realised he really did mean the words.

Felix really was ecstatic now that he finally had someone who really did truly love him, someone who not only loved him, but also loved the wings strapped to his back.

Felix could only pray that it would make things easier.

~

As it turned out, having Minho clued in to Felix’s secret really did come with some benefits.

Not only was Minho always soft, gentle and understanding but he _really_ knew how to hit the spot when he helped Felix groom his wings. Minho was always careful, and seemed to figure out pretty quickly exactly which spots relaxed Felix the most.

It meant that Felix was still keeping his wings bound for excessive amounts of time, but it was much easier to take care of them when they were down. Minho was almost too eager to help out whenever Felix texted saying he was going to let them loose, his footsteps echoing all through the dorm before he threw himself into Felix’s room, shouting quietly about how ready he was.

It made Felix giggle every time, his heart singing in his chest at the gentle, welcoming treatment.

But even with Minho’s help, the wings still weren’t in perfect shape.

Felix still had them bound for classes and for most of his time in the dorm and, unfortunately, Minho’s extra-grooming seemed to have triggered an additional side effect.

Felix was used to his feathers falling out, but not quite to the extent that it had started happening. Felix could only assume that Minho’s efforts meant the dead and broken feathers were getting dislodged faster and, whilst that was very good for the overall health of the wings, it made it a lot harder for Felix to keep them hidden.

Every time Felix adjusted his hoodie, every time he moved the wrong way, every time he simply shrugged his shoulders, it felt like an avalanche of feathers would be released and Felix was seriously having trouble grabbing the falling ones before anyone could see.

Felix didn’t think he realised just how much he appreciated Minho’s help until the walkabout feathers were what nearly gave him away.

Felix was in the kitchen at the time, crouched in front of the oven. He had a new carrot cake recipe that he was trying out and he was biting his nails as he watched it rise, nervous about how it would turn out.

All his other dormmates were scattered about the room. Changbin and Hyunjin were both flitting around the kitchen, constantly tripping over Felix and side-stepping around him as they washed all the dishes he had used. Felix had tried to insist that he could do that job, but the two had almost pushed him out the room, claiming that if they were the ones who always ate Felix’s hard work, they could at least help clean up.

Chan was sat at the table, bent over his laptop at what looked like a 90-degree-angle and moving the same few chords around for the song he was producing. Seungmin was in a seat across from him trying to study. Although, the studying appeared unsuccessful from the way he kept balling up pieces of paper and throwing them at Chan for playing the same few seconds of music over and over again and annoying the life out of them all.

Jisung, Jeongin and Minho, however, seemed unaffected. They were sprawled out over each other on the sofa, having a very proactive debate about how likely it was Chan would turn into a bat if they tried to jump-scare him on a balcony.

Chan either couldn’t hear them, or he found it more entertaining to leave them without an answer.

All in all, it was a pretty standard evening in their dorm.

That was until Felix’s joints clicked as he pulled himself into a standing position, getting too frustrated with watching his cake rise slowly.

He planned to go drop himself into the chair next to Chan, hoping to rest his head on Chan’s shoulder and use his legendary pout to distract him from playing his music out-loud again.

Felix almost made it, his feet dragging across the floor and wings tucked firmly into the oversized fluffy pink jumper he’d stolen form Jeongin’s room.

But, just before Felix made it to the table, a surprised squeak from Hyunjin echoed through the room and all eyes swivelled to face him. Felix immediately suspected that Hyunjin had spilt the flour in the sink again.

Hyunjin, however, was looking at the floor. There was a tea-towel almost falling off his shoulder and a confused look on his face.

Felix suddenly got a bad feeling, one that only worsened when Changbin’s gaze dropped to the floor where Hyunjin was staring and a confused noise left his own lips.

“Hyunnie? Binnie?” Chan’s voice cut through the silence of the room, “What did you two do?”

“Nothing, hyung!” Hyunjin immediately cried, the confusion on his face twisting into mock-offence as he looked up to pout at Chan, “Why do you always assume we’ve done something?”

Chan just shrugged, “Past experience,” he said.

Hyunjin rolled his eyes at that, but then his gaze fell back to the floor, the exact thing he was looking at hidden by the position of the countertops in the room.

That didn’t stop Felix from suspecting exactly what had surprised Hyunjin and Changbin.

He was only confirmed right when Changbin crouched down, picking something up before standing and displaying his hand to everyone in the room.

Felix’s heart dropped. His fingers immediately came around to smack against his back.

In his hand, Changbin was holding two white angel feathers.

They were too conspicuous to be any other type of feather. They were long, too long, and ridiculously pristine and perfect. The white on them was practically glowing, shimmering with an undertone of celestial magic that only Felix carried.

Felix swallowed heavily, feeling his whole-body tense at the way everyone in the room stared at what Changbin was holding, confusion written over all their faces except Minho’s.

“What the hell?” Jisung muttered, pulling himself off the sofa and shuffling towards Changbin, his eyes never leaving the feathers, “Where did these come from?”

Felix gulped. They had come from his back, but the others couldn’t know that.

“I have no idea,” Hyunjin frowned, carefully taking one of the feathers from Changbin and spreading his fingers over it, “They were just on the floor.”

Changbin looked like he was about to say something himself when suddenly the entire room was distracted by Minho throwing himself off the sofa, all his limbs crashing together and making an unsavoury noise before he was on his feet again.

Felix almost sighed in relief. If there was anyone he wanted on his side in that moment, it was Minho. Minho was a master at deception, great at distractions and extremely good at thinking on his feet.

It was a lot better than Felix’s solution of just standing there silently panicking.

“Maybe one of you didn’t wipe your shoes probably and dragged some bird feathers in?” Minho said like that was a perfectly rational explanation, making a show of casually walking over to see the feathers for himself, “Or the windows have been open all day, maybe they came from there?”

Changbin furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Minho like he was crazy.

“These aren’t bird feathers, hyung,” Changbin said pointedly, holding up one of the feathers, “They look almost… magical.”

Felix, admittedly, was a little bit flattered by the words, but he made sure not to show it. The last thing he needed was his rosy cheeks giving him away.

“And what kind of bird would those feathers come from?” it was Jeongin who spoke this time, watching the small crowd in the kitchen over the back of the sofa.

“They’d _clearly_ be dove feathers,” Minho said like it was obvious, turning to raise an eyebrow at Changbin, “And you know what they say, doves are _magical_ creatures.”

Felix almost laughed out-loud at the statement, almost losing out when Jeongin mumbled out an _I’ve never heard anyone say that in my life_ before turning and plopping himself back down to lie on the sofa.

That was one less person suspicious about the feathers. Felix was definitely going to have to thank Minho later.

“What is the big deal?” Chan spoke up next, evidently annoyed that the chatter of everyone else meant he couldn’t listen to his chords anymore, “They’re just feathers.”

“They’re magical feathers, hyung,” Jisung replied, looking at Chan with wide eyes, “And we have no idea how they got here.”

“There’s no such thing as magical feathers,” Chan rolled his eyes at them, letting out a smile of endearment, “I’ve read centuries worth of magic and vampire tomes, I would know.”

“But what if they’re cursed or something?” Hyunjin said, seeming to need a second to process his own words before he suddenly shrieked and dropped the feather, “Oh my god, what if someone sent a giant dove to curse us?!”

If Felix wasn’t so worried about the situation, he really would have cried with laughter at that one, especially when Changbin heard the words and let out his own embarrassingly high-pitched squeak. He leapt back as the noise left his mouth, practically chucking the other feather across the room.

“Oh, please,” Minho folded his arms at them, barely heard over the way Jeongin started cackling, “What the hell kind of evil giant dove would have a vengeance against us?”

“I don’t know, have you met Jisung?!” Hyunjin cried, “He annoys everyone!”

“Hey!” Jisung exclaimed, at the same time Felix realised it was probably his turn to speak. If the current suspicion was doves, then Felix could use that. Doves were very familiar to angels; it was very common knowledge that they enjoyed roaming the skies of heaven.

“Besides, there’s no such thing as giant evil doves,” Felix managed to speak casually, taking a step towards the feather Changbin had thrown and picking it up, “These look like they could come from any dove. Maybe a slightly larger one than usual, but a dove all the same.”

As he spoke, Felix pretended to run a hand over the feather, secretly using his fingertips to scoop up all the magic still tingling over it. He collected the magic in his palm, quickly absorbing it and keeping his head low so no one would see how his eyes flashed an extra bright blue at the sensation.

When Felix looked back up, he realised everyone seemed to look like they actually believed him. Changbin no longer looked ready to leap on a countertop and Jisung and Hyunjin started grumbling to one another.

Minho waited until Felix’s gaze drifted to him before he winked, giving him a reassuring smile to assure him that his secret was still safe.

Felix smiled back, watching as Minho went to pick up the other feather and handed it to Felix on his way to throwing himself back on the sofa next to Jeongin.

Felix didn’t hesitate to quickly swipe the magic off the second feather too.

He completed the action in the nick of time, not hearing Seungmin come up behind him until suddenly one of Seungmin’s hands was reaching over Felix’s shoulder and snatching up one of the feathers.

“Ya!” Felix tried to exclaim, pretending to be annoyed until he swivelled round and saw Seungmin scrutinising the feather carefully.

Seungmin’s jet-black eyes were narrowed, the black veins on his hands bristling slightly with his contact to the feather.

Felix gulped. If there was anyone that would recognise an angel feather, it was Seungmin. Demons and angels were very familiar with each other and could easily detect one another’s magic. Felix could only hope that he’d removed all the celestial traces from the feather.

His heart almost skipped a beat when Seungmin hummed, bringing the feather closer to his eyes. Of all the people Felix was worried about finding out about his wings, Seungmin was definitely one of them. Demons didn’t approve of angels on the best of days, especially winged ones.

Felix knew Seungmin was different, but that didn’t mean the risk wasn’t there.

“Everything okay?” Felix said, trying to keep his voice steady when Seungmin pulled his gaze away from the feather to look at him.

Seungmin seemed to pause for a moment, staring at Felix with a look that he couldn’t quite decipher. Felix held his breath, almost certain that Seungmin was about to call him out.

But then Seungmin simply shrugged and held the feather out to Felix, the suspicious look in his eyes disappearing.

“Everything’s fine,” Seungmin said with a shrug, “I thought it might be an angel feather, it looks just like one. But there’s no celestial traces on it, so you must be right about the dove thing.”

Felix’s heart squeezed in relief, his lips pulling up into a smile as he took the feather from Seungmin, his fingers tingling at the contact. Seungmin just nodded at him, waiting a moment before turning to go back to his studying.

The room lapsed back into its usual un-silent silence.

Hyunjin whizzed by Felix, snatching the feathers off him and shouting that he was going to use them to make more of his bracelets. Jisung raced after him, desperately shouting that Hyunjin couldn’t just find something and claim it.

Felix grinned as he watched them, using their brief ruckus as a distraction to subtly tuck his hoodie into his jeans. That way, any feathers that came away would get stuck in the fabric and wouldn’t fall until Felix found a chance to take the hoodie off in his room.

Felix’s wings were definitely getting impatient, he was going to have to find a way to slip away soon.

But the wings apparently weren’t the only thing that were getting impatient.

It was with a sense of dawning horror that Felix’s eyes widened, his mouth opening in a shriek.

“My _cake_!” Felix cried, not thinking about it as he suddenly threw himself over the countertop and slammed to his knees in front of the oven, wailing at the sight of his cake crisping and burnt with the oven still blaring down on it.

“Goddamnit!” Felix cursed, quickly turning the oven off before he lunged to grab the tea-towel off Hyunjin’s shoulder and used it to pull his cake out the oven, groaning at how he was going to have to start again.

“I swear angels aren’t supposed to say goddamnit,” Changbin whispered from somewhere above him, Felix turning to lob the tea-towel at him.

“It was justified this time!” Felix said, realising just how right the words were when he looked back down at his ruined cake, “I’m going to have to stay up and do this all over again. I told my teacher I’d have a cake for him tomorrow.”

The rest of the dorm quickly descended into a series of encouragements and offers of help for Felix, but Felix could barely hear them, still looking down at all his broken efforts.

It was with a sinking heart that Felix realised keeping his wings hidden was starting to have much bigger consequences that he’d originally thought.

It was affecting Felix’s health, his mind and now his schoolwork. It was getting harder and harder to keep things hidden, and it was only going to be so long before everyone found out.

Felix stayed slumped on the floor, burnt cake on his lap.

He knew he was going to have to tell everyone his secret soon. He didn’t want all his friends finding out how Minho did. He didn’t want them to figure it out just because of random white feathers they found on the kitchen floor.

Felix didn’t want to surprise them and scare them away like what had happened with his last dorm.

He had to tell them before they found out themselves.

~

Unfortunately for Felix, the world seemed intent on surprising him.

He’d been planning on finding a way to tell his dormmates about his wings, he really had, but the time never seemed right.

Felix was always too stressed, or someone else in the dorm was too stressed, or someone wasn’t home. They were all so busy with school, Felix felt so insignificant with his problem, so selfish for wanting to burden them with it and even more selfish for keeping it from them.

His wings were still shedding feathers at an alarming rate and Minho had been amazing at keeping them all hidden to prevent any more accidents. But, like everything else, the action seemed to have consequences.

Minho was out the next time Felix released his wings in his room, sending what looked like an entire bouquet of feathers crashing to the floor. Felix sighed as he looked at them, his wings trying their best to stretch themselves out and sending pain rippling all down Felix’s back.

Felix was going to have to do a lot of hunching over to pick the feathers up, and it was going to _hurt._

But at least his wings were out. It had been a few days since the last time and Felix was getting seriously worried out his posture, his shoulders never seeming to be without brutal aches.

Usually, this would be the time Felix would text Minho for some help with grooming and a massage, but Minho was at the dance studio. Felix was alone.

At least that’s what Felix thought.

One of the first things that Felix had learnt when moving into the dorm was that Seungmin was still getting used to human etiquette. As a demon, Seungmin wasn’t quite versed in society’s politeness strategies and everyone in the dorm was doing their best to teach him.

One key thing that included was: knocking.

So far, Seungmin had been doing quite well in remembering that people usually didn’t like it when he just barged unannounced into their rooms. But Felix probably should have realised that since he’d started letting Minho enter his room whenever he wanted, Seungmin would probably take that as a cue for himself too.

Which meant that when Felix was stood alone in his room with the door shut, Seungmin saw no trouble in throwing open the door.

Felix jumped about a foot in the air, a high-pitched yelp scrambling from his throat. He immediately brought up a hand to cover his bare chest, his wings automatically flurrying towards him and tucking themselves behind his back. They weren’t bound, but Felix knew that as long as he didn’t turn, they wouldn’t be visible.

That wasn’t enough, however, to cover up all the feathers on the floor.

Felix noticed them a second too late, his heart jumping and eyes widening as he whipped his gaze up to where Seungmin was stood frozen in the doorway.

A second of silence passed between them, one that built the tension up so strongly Felix swore the room was about to explode.

Seungmin seemed to regain his human senses enough to pick up the tension too because, a moment later, he was taking a quick step into the room and slamming the door closed behind him, keeping his fingers curled tightly around the handle just in case someone else tried to come in.

For a moment, the two of them met eyes across the room. Felix felt an invisible hand start to squeeze his throat at the confusion and accusation staring straight back at him.

Felix opened his mouth, not sure what he was trying to say. He only managed a “ _S-Seungmin…_ ” before Seungmin spoke up too.

“Feathers!” was all Seungmin said, a clawed finger pointing at the feathers scattered all over the floor, “There’s feathers everywhere!”

Felix could only nod, terror still squeezing at his throat, “Yes, there is,” he whispered.

“Why?” Seungmin practically barked, letting go of the door handle to take a step further into the room, “Why the hell are there white feathers everywhere?”

“They’re for…” Felix felt his mind fuzz, screaming at him that Seungmin couldn’t find out this way, “They’re feathers for an art project.”

Felix closed his eyes as he said the words, his chest tightening. He knew they’d never work and he was only confirmed right a second later when Seungmin took another step towards him and looked at him like was crazy.

“An art project?! Felix you’re a culinary student!” Seungmin just stared at him, pausing before he looked down at the feathers again and he gasped, “Felix, those are angel feathers! I can see their magic from here.”

Felix flinched at the words, his face falling. Seungmin was going to find out. Seungmin was going to find out and there was nothing he could do.

“They’re for a spell…” Felix tried one last attempt, knowing it had failed when Seungmin just scoffed.

“Angels don’t do spells,” Seungmin said pointedly, “And they don’t use their own feathers or magic unless they absolutely have to. So, tell me Felix, what the hell are you doing with angel feathers all over your floor?”

The words were shot in the air accusingly, Seungmin sounding more frustrated and angry than Felix had ever heard him. Felix couldn’t blame him though, if he was dabbling in angel magic like he’d said he was then that would be a huge secret to keep and it would have a profound effect on Seungmin.

Felix realised that the only option he had left was to tell the truth. The idea sent panic flurrying through him, his feathers sweating in horror at his back. But there was nothing else he could do, Seungmin looked ready to call the whole house and Felix couldn’t risk that.

So, Felix took a deep breath, dropping his head to the floor.

He felt Seungmin shift across from him, evidently ready to start firing more questions into the room when he suddenly fell silent, his mouth dropping open.

Felix had never felt more exposed than he did when he relaxed his shoulders, feeling his wings spring out from either side of him.

They didn’t rise to their full height, Felix didn’t let them. They just hung down from Felix’s back, their tips resting against the floor and the edges poking out from just behind him.

Felix didn’t dare look up as Seungmin fell silent, his heart too busy jack-hammering in his chest and his eyes starting to prick with tears.

Seungmin was going to be so _ashamed_.

The floor creaked as Seungmin took a final step into the middle of the room, but this one was a lot less firm than the other ones. His feet were gentle against the floor, his toes making sure not to brush against the feathers still lying all over the place.

“Felix?” Seungmin said quietly, almost whispering, “Do you… do you have wings?”

A lightning bolt sizzled in Felix’s chest, fear cutting through him like a knife. He could barely bring himself to breathe, too busy staring at Seungmin’s feet and begging that he’d just run away.

“Felix,” Seungmin carried on, the hesitant tone to his voice unlike anything Felix had ever heard from him, “Please look at me.”

Seungmin was always snarky, always strong. He always had a comeback on the tip of his tongue and a rebuttal loaded and ready to go. He gave comfort through his humour and his impeccable logic, not through soothing silk and warm tones.

But, now, Seungmin sounded quiet, his demonic voice reduced to something much more angel-like. Felix almost brought himself to look up at him, to see whatever look in Seungmin’s eyes would be accompanying that sweet voice.

“Felix, I…” Seungmin hesitated, Felix looking down so far his chin dug into his chest, “Lix, I didn’t realise you had wings.”

Felix flinched. He unconsciously tensed so that his wings hugged tighter to him, his feathers ruffling at the movement. A couple more wisped to the floor, landing down next to Seungmin’s soft feet.

The air seemed to freeze for a second, the silence sizzling between them. But then Felix’s eyes widened when suddenly Seungmin flitted into his vision, crouching down so he could pick up a feather.

Felix held his breath. Seungmin said nothing as he picked up the longest one he could see, cradling it carefully between his fingers.

“I should have known,” Seungmin said, his voice low before he looked up and met eyes with Felix, a shy smile on his face, “I should have known those feathers in the kitchen that day were angel feathers.”

Before he even realised it, a small giggle tickled in Felix’s chest at the words, his lips unintentionally pulling up at the corners. Seungmin looked so different; crouched on the floor with his dark eyes glowing under Felix’s fairy lights and a pure white feather in his hands.

Seungmin didn’t look ashamed. He didn’t look angry. He looked more shocked than anything else, but not in a way that Felix was scared of.

“You kinda did know,” Felix managed to say, nodding down at the feather, “You were the only one who suspected that they could be angel feathers, I was just lucky that I managed to get the magic off them before you got hold of them.”

Seungmin’s smile grew at that, his usual slightly-demonic look filtering back into his eyes.

“You’ve been clever, Lee Felix,” he said, Felix’s eyes following him as he stood back to his full height, “How have you managed to keep this hidden?”

Felix ducked his head again at that, chuckling as he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. His wings shifted a little, Seungmin’s eyes drifting to stare at them.

“I’ve been hiding them with lots of hoodies and binding,” Felix grinned, Seungmin raising an eyebrow at him, “They’re kinda big wings, so nothing else worked.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Seungmin said, nodding at the wing arching out from just behind Felix’s shoulder, “I know quite a bit about angel wings and yours are… truly magnificent.”

The words went straight to Felix’s heart, completely chasing away the fear before squeezing gently at it, sending his whole body tingling with warmth.

“They’re nothing special,” Felix shook his head, deliberately looking away from all the feathers, “They’re just stupid wings, too big and inconvenient and basically useless since I never really get to use for them their intended purpose.”

The longer Felix spoke, the larger Seungmin’s frown got. He seemed to process what Felix was saying, his eyes narrowing and staring at Felix with a calculating gaze, like he was only just working him out.

“Felix,” Seungmin eventually said, swallowing on the word, “I’m going to assume this is part of the reason you never told us about the wings?” Felix nodded, “Well, I’m not going to ask you to expand on that if you don’t want to. But I want you to know, these wings don’t change a single thing for even a demon like me. Please don’t put them down.”

Against his will, Felix’s wings flared at the movement, both of them whooshing out to the side and towering next to Felix’s shoulders. Felix felt himself flush down to his neck, dropping his head down into his hands with a shy grin.

Apart from Minho, Felix’s wings hadn’t been complimented in a long time, and they often got very excited at the receiving end of warm praise, especially coming from a demonic presence like Seungmin that they were definitely able to sense.

“Thanks,” Felix said into his hands, feeling his wings flutter slightly from next to him.

“That’s really neat,” there was a giggle in Seungmin’s voice, Felix peeking out from his fingers to see Seungmin staring at the ends of Felix’s wings, leaning in to get a closer look at them, “I know the feathers aren’t supposed to look this unhealthy, but I understand that’s probably from you binding them. Other than that, these really are such beautiful impressive wings.”

Felix’s wings fluttered even more at that, Felix letting out a low groan and shoving his face back in his hands, “Stop that.”

“Stop winding up the magical wings that I only just found about and want to stare at forever?” Seungmin pretended to muse over the words, “Hmmm, no.”

Felix couldn’t help but laugh at that, mustering up all the control he had to bring his left wing forward and smack Seungmin in the face with it.

“Hey!” Seungmin exclaimed, his eyes widening and mouth dropping open in a cackle, “I didn’t know wings could do _that_!”

“Yeah, well, it’s been a while,” Felix muttered, his voice shaking a little at the pain that seared all down his shoulder from moving his wing so much. They really hadn’t been unbound for very long and Felix realised he probably should have thought about that before he whacked Seungmin.

Still worth it.

“Are you okay?” Seungmin seemed to sense on the wobble in Felix’s voice, his face crinkling as he stared at Felix, “Do your wings… hurt?”

Felix tried to shrug, “Just a little,” he muttered, bringing up a hand to rub over his shoulder.

“Hey, sit down,” Seungmin caught on to the action, immediately pulling Felix’s hand away and replacing it with his own, leading Felix towards the bed.

“But I usually don’t let myself sit down until I’ve picked up all the feathers,” Felix pouted, letting Seungmin drag him along somewhat reluctantly.

“Nuh uh,” Seungmin tutted, “ _I_ will pick up the feathers. You sit.”

Felix grumbled, but let Seungmin push him down onto his butt on the bed, his wings falling onto the mattress either side of him. Seungmin made sure he stayed put before crouching down, beginning to gather the feathers into his arms.

“So, who else knows about the wings?” Seungmin asked, giving Felix a look from the floor, “You handled that feather disaster a little too well for the terrible liar you are, you must have a man on the inside.”

Felix smiled, “Minho-hyung found out a couple of weeks ago,” he said, “He dragged me to the dance studio and my wings were really hurting. He figured out I had pain in my back and insisted on checking on it, I couldn’t move well enough to stop him from seeing.”

“Huh,” Seungmin said, pursing his lips, “So, Minho-hyung found out by surprise too?”

“Yeah,” Felix nodded, “Believe it or not, I had actually been planning to tell you guys. The time just… never seemed right.”

Felix’s words trailed off towards the end, his eyes meeting Seungmin’s with a frown. Seungmin looked a little upset, but not at Felix. If Felix could guess, he would say that Seungmin was upset with himself about the situation, not at Felix.

“Well, I guess it makes sense Minho-hyung was the first to find out,” Seungmin seemed to snap out of it, humming to himself, “You know faes used to be winged too? But they didn’t have big, wide wings like you, their wings were shaped more like dragonfl-”

“Dragonflies,” Felix finished for him, smiling, “Yeah, Minho-hyung talked to Jisung about that once. Jisung apparently thinks wings are beautiful. That was actually one of the things that made me think maybe I would be okay with you guys finding out.”

Something in Seungmin’s eyes seemed to light up at that, the usual darkness on his face fading as he pushed the pile of feathers to the side and made his way over to sit on the bed next to Felix, making sure not to jostle his wing.

“I know I’m not always sentimental or anything,” Seungmin said, hesitating before he reached out to place his hand over Felix’s, “But I’m really glad I found out about this today. I don’t know why you didn’t have the confidence to tell us before, but I’m glad you have more confidence now. If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”

A tiny little tendril of love curled in Felix’s chest, his cheeks pinking and wings hugging tighter to him. He nudged his shoulder against Seungmin’s, beaming at him.

“Thanks, Minnie,” Felix smiled, “And you’re always welcome to help me groom my wings, but you might have to fight Minho-hyung for a spot first.”

Seungmin snorted, “Oh, I can take Minho-hyung,” he grinned.

Felix laughed, letting his head fall over and drop onto Seungmin’s shoulder, squeezing Seungmin’s hand as he did so. Seungmin squeezed back, using his rare moment of affection to place a teasing kiss on Felix’s forehead.

“I’m kinda jealous,” Seungmin drawled after a couple moments of silence, shifting his gaze to look behind him at where Felix’s left wing was resting on the bed, “I’d love to have pretty wings like yours. Although, I think I’d want them in black.”

“They’d suit you,” Felix giggled, “And I feel like society wouldn’t mind as much if demons had wings, society’s usually too scared to object to anything you do.”

Seungmin tensed a little at the words, pausing for a moment. The cogs started to visibly turn in his brain.

“Lix,” he eventually said, voice serious, “I know these wings must have given you a bit of a hard time, but if anyone, and I mean absolutely _anyone_ , makes you feel bad about them, then you come to me. I will not hesitate to send anyone straight to hell.”

Despite the violent intent of the words, Felix found himself smiling at them.

“Minho-hyung said something very similar,” he said, pinching Seungmin gently in the side.

“Minho-hyung might be a good partner,” Seungmin grinned, “A fae and a demon, we’d make a very good team.”

Felix laughed, pinching Seungmin harder this time, “No violence!”

“Okay, okay, no violence!” Seungmin laughed, throwing his hands upwards, “As long as you promise me something.”

Felix swivelled his gaze round on Seungmin’s shoulder, looking up at him, “Promise you what?”

Seungmin met his gaze, his dark eyes shining, “Promise me that, no matter what, you will remember that everyone in this house will always, _always_ protect you.”

Something in Felix’s chest blossomed at the words, his head ducking in a nod before he could stop himself. He thought he knew, deep down, that Seungmin was right.

His friends really would protect him, even with his wings.

“Okay, Minnie,” Felix said, smiling gently, “I promise.”

~

It only took another week for Felix to realise that he really, _really_ needed that promise to be true.

It was an early Friday evening, the orange hues of the sunset slowly filtering through Felix’s window, most of the dorm still out at various evening classes and after-school events. Felix had been tempted to go to the dance studio himself, but his wings were bothering him and he really needed to let them out for a bit.

The problem arose when Felix got back to his room. He double-checked that he’d shut the door properly, stripped off his hoodie, texted Minho and Seungmin that he’d need some help grooming whenever the two of them got home and then got to un-binding.

That’s when Felix realised he’d really overdone it this time.

It had been three days since he’d let his wings out, three days of the aches and pain and splints getting worse and worse and worse.

Felix didn’t realise how bad it had gotten until he loosened the first knot of his binds and agony scorched all the way up his back.

He had to bite back a cry, his whole body hunching over and teeth grinding against each other. He forced deep breaths into his lungs, trying to breathe through the pain burning through him.

It only got worse with each knot that needed un-doing, Felix ending up doubled over his desk with sweat coating his forehead and tears on his cheeks. He felt on the verge of screaming, his whole back on fire with the fierce sizzles roaring through it.

Even when the binds were lying discarded on the floor, Felix still couldn’t unfurl his wings. They lay plastered to his back, feathers decaying and bones too stiff to even attempt moving.

It was with another wave of pain that had Felix’s elbows digging into his desk and his face screaming into them, that Felix realised he really needed help.

He _really_ needed help.

Felix almost started sobbing, the pain too overwhelming and too ferocious for him to handle. His thoughts were a mess, his fingers scrambling over to his phone before he realised that the only two people in the dorm who even knew about his wings weren’t home and that they’d take too long to get to Felix.

Felix couldn’t wait for them. He needed someone to stretch his wings for him now or he’d collapse, and then the damage would be permanent.

So, Felix let out a sob into his elbow, terror mixing poisonously with his pain as he looked back to his phone. He went to a familiar contact, the one in the dorm he texted the most, the previous text messages riddled with puns and heart emojis and a load of other things Felix was about to ruin.

Felix choked on his next sob. If this person turned out to be the one that would reject him, it would absolutely break him. He was sure of that.

But Felix didn’t have a choice, he winced again with pain as he finally sent a text barely legible through its typos. It was clear enough, a message simply begging for help. Felix could only hope it would be understood soon enough.

In fact, it was barely a few seconds before the sudden eruption of footsteps thundered through the dorm. They got louder as they approached Felix’s door, Felix looking up just in time to see the door swing open.

He jumped as the wood smacked against the wall, revealing an extremely worried vampire stood rigidly in the doorway.

Felix almost melted in relief.

“Hyung,” he managed to whisper, hunching further over his desk and staring through his tears at where Chan was just stood in the doorway looking at him.

For a moment, Felix puzzled, wondering why Chan didn’t run straight towards him. But then Felix realised his wings were laying over his back, leaking feathers and unfurling painfully slowly from him.

But all the pain on Felix’s face couldn’t overshadow the fact that Chan didn’t know about the wings yet.

And Chan was most definitely surprised by the wings.

But there wasn’t any time for surprise, not when Felix tried to stand up and another wave of pain rode so horribly through him that he cried out and collapsed back against the desk, his teeth gritting together and harsh pants rocking through him.

Felix managed to breathe through it, wading through the agony just long enough to hear the door to the room close. He opened his eyes, catching the exact moment that Chan’s ‘leader look’ appeared on his face.

Felix’s knees almost buckled. He was so relieved to see that look.

“Okay,” Chan said as he quickly strode over, not hesitating to reach over Felix’s wings and clasp at his shoulders, “It’s okay, Lix, you’re okay. Just breathe.”

Felix tried his best to do as Chan said, feeling all the tension fade from his shoulders at Chan’s familiar cold touch. Gentle sizzles of love tingled through him, only feeling nicer at Chan’s soothing honey tones in his ear.

“I’m sorry, hyung,” Felix managed to say, dropping his head down so it thunked against the desk. He couldn’t bring himself to look up at Chan properly, “I’m so sorry.”

“Shhh, baby,” Chan said, his voice tender as his thumbs began to rub small circles on Felix’s shoulders, “Don’t apologise.”

“But the wings,” Felix choked out, feeling his throat tighten at the need to sob again, “I didn’t tell you about the wings.”

There was a moment, just a small moment, of silence. A clear moment for Chan to process that this was really happening; Felix really was slumped over a desk apologising for wings that Chan didn’t even know he had.

“Don’t talk about that now,” Chan eventually said, shifting so that he could see Felix’s face better, trying to meet his eyes, “We can discuss all that later. But, for now, you’re clearly in pain, so tell me what you need.”

Felix almost started crying all over again at the words, a mangled feeling of relief coursing through him that almost had his legs buckling. He turned and nuzzled his nose against the hand Chan had clutched to his shoulder.

“I need you to help me stretch the wings,” Felix whispered, his voice still riddled with shame, “I’ve kept them bound for too long and they hurt so much. I can’t stretch them on my own anymore.”

There was another pause as Chan nodded, giving one last squeeze to Felix’s shoulders before he let go.

“Okay, Lix,” Chan audibly swallowed on the words, “I’ll do my best. Tell me if you need me to stop.”

Felix could only nod at the words, pulling in a harsh breath as he steadied himself, waiting for the pain he knew was about to come.

He winced at the feeling of cold fingertips stretching hesitantly over the edge of Felix’s wing, feeling along until they reached the top. Chan started with the left wing, curling his pale hands around it before carefully tugging it away to the left and into the air.

Felix cried out, sinking his teeth into his wrist to stop himself from screaming. His other hand quickly wrapped around the edge of the desk, white-knuckling it with all his might.

His back felt like every inch of his skin was being shredded.

“Sorry, sorry,” Chan’s soft voice tried to break through, speaking even as he continued to stretch the wing, “Just a little bit more.”

Felix didn’t, _couldn’t_ , reply. He merely focused on keeping himself upright as his wing was finally stretched out. Despite the pain, it felt good to finally have the wing away from his back, no longer folded against him and aching something fierce. Soon enough, the wing would settle in its natural resting position and the pain would start to fade away.

Chan shushed lowly as he finished, smoothing his fingers up and down the wing that was now officially stretched out. Felix pulled in a long breath, resisting the urge to groan at how heavenly and soothing the touch felt.

“Well done, little angel,” Chan said softly, his voice calm and tender over the sounds of Felix’s breathing, “You did so well. Halfway there now.”

Felix allowed himself a small smile at the words, wiping the sweat off his forehead and gripping the edge of the desk again before gesturing at Chan to go on.

Chan nodded and pursed his lips, running his hand all up Felix’s left wing until he eventually reached the still folded position of the right one. He curled his fingers around the edges, counting down in a whisper before he pulled.

Felix’s cry was rawer this time, less constrained as he muffled it into his hand. His back pulsed up and down as he panted, Chan trying to shush him the whole time.

It was over quicker than the left wing had been, Chan’s hands steadier and surer of what to do as they positioned the wing in its place, sending feathers curling to the floor.

Felix breathed through it, feeling his body start to slump when it finally ended. He closed his eyes, trying to get used to the feeling of no longer having heavy weights forced against him every second.

The feeling was so relieving that Felix soon found his legs trying to take him to the floor, no longer running on the adrenalin that was required to keep him up. Felix would have fallen to his knees if not for the hands that suddenly clutched his waist.

“Woah!” Chan said, quickly wrapping his arms around Felix and holding him up, “Careful there.”

Felix just groaned, letting himself melt into Chan’s grip.

“Hurts,” Felix choked on a sob, “Tired.”

“I know, baby,” Chan said soothingly, placing a careful kiss on the top of Felix’s head, “I’m going to get you to bed right now.”

A small part of Felix panicked at the words, not liking the idea of having to let go of Chan. He knew it wasn’t exactly convenient, with Chan having only just found out about his wings. But Felix didn’t want to have to explain, he just wanted Chan to hold him close.

“Hyung, don’t go,” Felix managed to whine, clinging to Chan’s wrist as he started to manoeuvre Felix towards the bed, “Want cuddles.”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m not cuddling you after that,” Chan said, his voice shaky but firm, sending a sigh of relief shuddering through Felix.

But it was then that they turned towards the bed and Chan froze, turning to give Felix’s wings a look. Felix felt fear spark in him for a moment, thinking Chan was only just realising that his dormmate really did actually have wings.

But then Chan simply asked, “I take it that you can’t lie on your back?” his eyes thoughtful and calculating as they roamed over Felix and then back over the bed.

Felix smiled tiredly and shook his head, wondering if Chan was only just piecing together why Felix always insisted on being the big spoon.

“No matter,” Chan said, a single moment passing before he was twisting round and falling onto his own back onto the bed, pulling Felix on top of him.

Felix felt the air leave his lungs as he landed on Chan’s chest, his head knocking against Chan’s chin and his limbs scrambling to get comfortable for a few moments before he relaxed.

His felt his wings settle either side of him, blanketing over Chan’s arms and stretching across the bed. They dangled over the edges, only small tingles of pain bothering Felix now that the wings were finally relaxed.

He let out a content hum into Chan’s chest, melting into him before Chan’s hands came up and tangled hesitantly in Felix’s silver hair. Felix let out another hum as Chan began working his fingers over his scalp, singing softly under his breath and pressing small kisses on top of Felix’s head.

They simply stayed like that for a few moments, the last few dredges of pain finally slipping from Felix’s back as he practically sank into Chan. But Chan didn’t seem to mind the extra weight, he just continued stroking Felix’s hair and every now and again pulled down a hand to tickle over Felix’s wings.

Felix knew that he probably had to explain himself. He knew that the last thing that Chan had probably expected to do that evening was lie under a blanket of two huge wings he didn’t even know Felix had. But Felix was content to let Chan ask the questions himself, knowing Chan always had a more logical, loving approach to discussions that was better than Felix’s flustered rambling.

It was only another few moments or so before Felix was proved right. Chan’s fingers stilled in Felix’s hair, clearing his throat in a way that meant he wanted Felix to look at him.

Felix did as Chan wanted, propping his chin up on Chan’s chest so they could meet eyes. Chan smiled softly at him, his eyes shining with his calmer, more endeared ‘leader look’.

“So,” Chan said after a moment, moving a hand from Felix’s hair and tracing it down Felix’s neck, across his shoulder and then tangling it in some feathers, “How long have you had wings, angel?”

Felix giggled charmingly, always appreciative of how Chan liked to start things off on a light-hearted note.

“I’ve had them forever, hyung,” Felix said, his cheeks warming slightly.

Chan made a show of pretending to roll his eyes, a laugh leaving his own mouth before he spoke.

“Well, I knew _that_ ,” he said, poking the end of Felix’s nose, “I was just wondering if you were going to let us know about them anytime soon.”

Felix’s smile dropped at that, his face coming down to bury back in Chan’s chest, “I’m sorry, hyung.”

“Hey, I didn’t say that you had to be sorry,” Chan was quick to say, rubbing his hand over the back of Felix’s head, “I’m the one who has to be sorry, especially if you felt like you had to hide your wings from me, angel.”

A drop of sadness spread through Felix’s chest at the words, his head shaking before he could stop it. He swallowed back more tears, pushing his hair out his eyes before he looked at Chan again.

“You never once made me feel like I had to hide,” Felix said, his voice shaky but his eyes flashing in a way that meant he was serious, “I just… I was scared. My, um… my last dormmate got me kicked out my last dorm because of my wings. I just couldn’t risk that happening here.”

Chan’s mouth dropped open, his own red eyes widening. He simply stared at Felix for a second, seeming to need to properly process the words before his grip was tightening on Felix’s hair.

“Oh, Lix,” he said, letting go to move his hand round to cup Felix’s chin, “I’m so sorry, baby. You really didn’t deserve that.”

“It’s okay,” Felix managed to say, giving Chan a shy smile, “It actually worked out better in the end, because I got moved here and I got lucky enough to meet all of you.”

“Well, we’ve definitely got to be thankful for that,” Chan smiled back, pausing a moment before he carried on, “I completely understand why you decided to hide this from us at first, but… but I hope this dorm has showed you enough love for you to know that none of us will ever, _ever_ judge you for your wings.”

Felix was nodding before he could even stop himself, his head bobbing like a toddler’s. He stared straight into Chan’s eyes, making sure to hold eye contact as he spoke.

“I know, hyung,” Felix said, his voice as firm as he could make it, “You’ve all shown me nothing but love since I got here. I was just so scared of losing all that love, it was so hard to plan to tell you. But then, well, then Minho-hyung kinda found out by accident.”

Felix was intending on continuing speaking, to keep explaining his thoughts to Chan, but Chan’s eyebrows shot up before Felix could carry on, staring at Felix in shock.

“Minho knows?!” Chan exclaimed, “And he managed to keep that from all of us?”

“Yeah,” Felix giggled, “And Seungmin too. He also found out by accident.”

Chan made a shocked noise, his mouth opening in a half-laugh, half-gasp. Felix couldn’t help but snort at him, enjoying the absolute baffled look on Chan’s face.

“I always knew those two were sneaky little trouble-makers,” Chan said, shaking his head, “But _wow_.”

“It was actually kinda good having them in on it,” Felix grinned, “Minho-hyung was able to pick up feathers and help me groom my wings. And Seungmin told me he wanted his own pair of black wings.”

“Oh, hell yeah,” Chan laughed, letting his head thunk back on Felix’s pillow with a smile, “I want black wings too. Or maybe some red ones.”

“Are you sure you don’t want pastel pink?” Felix couldn’t help but say, having to bite back another laugh when Chan flicked him on the back of the head.

“I don’t know why we’re talking about what colour everyone else wants,” Chan said, smoothing over the area of Felix’s hair he’d just flicked, “Not when any of us will ever have wings as pretty as yours.”

Felix suddenly felt himself blush all the way down to his neck, his wings practically preening next to him and trying to snuggle closer to Chan. Felix buried his face in Chan’s chest, letting out a low whine.

“Hyung,” he said, voice muffled, “You can’t just say things like that.”

“I can’t compliment my angel’s absolutely gorgeous, incredible, magical wings?” Chan said like it was normal, tangling his hand back in some feathers, “Sorry, no can do, Lix. I’m going to be gushing about these forever.”

Felix whined again, but he couldn’t help but smile around it this time, feeling his shoulders loosen as Chan started to stroke his wing. He started muttering softly, telling Chan that he was too good to him, that he was such a good hyung, that Felix was so glad he finally knew about the wings…

“I’m so glad I know about the wings too,” Chan responded softly, his face glowing with his smile, “And if anything happens like it did earlier. If you’re ever in pain again, or you need help grooming, or if you ever need help keeping them healthy, then just call me, okay? I’ll always be here.”

Felix’s hand came up to stroke Chan’s chin, his face shining softly.

“Thanks, hyung,” Felix said, “But you might need to get in line when it comes to grooming, Minho-hyung and Seungmin both seem to love that job.”

Chan grinned, wrapping his own hand around the one Felix had stroking against his skin, “I’m an immortal vampire. I could definitely overpower Minho and Seungmin.”

“Funny that,” Felix smirked, “They said the same about you.”

“Those brats!” Chan exclaimed, Felix’s chin practically bouncing on his chest as he shouted, “I’m gonna need to challenge them to a duel soon, show them exactly who runs this dorm.”

“You act like Jeongin hasn’t got you all wrapped around his little finger,” Felix couldn’t help but say, a teasing lilt to his voice, “If anyone was going to be winning any duels around here…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Cahn interrupted, waving a hand, “And I’m pretty sure everyone in this dorm would move mountains for you too. You’ve literally got people fighting to the death to look after your wings, and most of the dorm doesn’t even know about them yet.”

“Hey, no one said anything about fighting to the _death_!” Felix pouted, “Especially if the humans get involved, not that they’d be stupid enough to do that.”

Chan raised an eyebrow, “Lix, you act like Changbin wouldn’t try and take on me, Minho and Seungmin _at the same time_ if it meant he got to stroke your wings.”

Felix laughed at the mental image, “Yeah, that’s true,” he said, “Binnie-hyung would probably win too.”

“Yah!” Chan exclaimed, whacking the back of Felix’s head, “Don’t act like I’m not the strongest one in this whole dorm.”

“We all like to let you think that way…” Felix drawled, smiling when Chan just rolled his eyes at him.

“Okay, well speaking of the humans,” Chan changed his tone to a more business-like one, looking down at Felix again, “Were you planning on tell any of them about your wings anytime soon? Obviously, I don’t want to pressure you or anything, but now that Minho, Seungmin and I know, it’s probably fair that Binnie, Hyunjin, Ji and Innie all know too.”

Felix paused to ponder the words for a moment, letting them wash over his mind. He considered what Chan said, thinking back to when Minho, Seungmin and him had all seen his wings for the first time. They had all been understandably surprised at first.

But then the surprise had washed away. Then they looked, really looked, at Felix’s wings and they’d all been so kind, so lovely, so accepting…

“I think I’m ready to tell them,” Felix nodded to himself as he spoke, biting on his lip for a moment before he looked up to meet eyes with Chan, “Would you help me?”

Chan beamed down at him, “I’d do anything for you, angel.”

~

It was late.

Really late.

The Moon was high in the sky, shining over the campus courtyard with an iridescent white glow. Stars shimmered all around it, dotted in the darkness like miniature paintings.

The entire courtyard was empty, missing its constant daytime rush of students who flitted about with books in their arms and coffee spilling over the top of its cup and a million homework assignments rushing through their minds. The giant clock tower stood over the scene, silent and patient as it waited to strike 3am.

Campus was usually quiet around this time, the only busy places were the pathways to the library and the empty dorm hallways with their 24 hour cafes. The courtyard was barren, filled only by Felix laid in centre of the giant patch of grass in the middle of everything.

Felix was laying on his back, staring up at the stars with a soft breeze ticking over the tip of his nose and blades of grass brushing against the side of his face.

If he looked hard enough, Felix swore he could look up to the sky and see heaven, the place that all angels used to call home. The place Felix had grown up before he’d (literally) spread his wings and leapt out the nest.

But now Felix had found a different kind of home, a home with a vampire, a fae, a demon and four humans he was ready to be vulnerable in front of.

He’d decided that the humans’ introduction to his wings should probably be a lot less shocking and confusing than what had happened with all the others. Felix decided the best way to do it would be to finally be free.

Felix’s shirt was tossed to the side, his bare back pressed against all the grass underneath him. His wings were spread out perfectly either side of him, stretched across the ground. Every single feather was brushed and pristine and perfect, his back and shoulders were relaxed without the wings folded jaggedly over them.

Felix’s arms were stretched either side of him. He drew a deep, fresh into his lungs. He felt relaxed.

A part of Felix had expected to be scared, to be terrified of so blatantly exposing himself in front of people who could so easily judge him. But Felix trusted his friends. Chan, Minho and Seungmin had been so, _so_ loving and welcoming, and Felix realised he wanted that from all his friends.

So, he lay in the dead of night with the sky staring down at him and his wings spread out beside him, waiting for the familiar sound of footsteps and tired voices.

Felix didn’t have to wait long.

Chan, Minho and Seungmin kept true to their promise, having reassured Felix that they would be able to get the humans out their beds, _yes, even Jisung_ , and talk them into going on an impromptu campus walk in the middle of the night.

Felix had doubted the possibility of that, but his blind faith in his friends had convinced him to believe them and his heart squeezed in his chest when he realised they were right.

Felix was still on his back with his eyes closed when he heard the sounds of an approaching group. His ears could very easily pick up on Jeongin’s tired grumbling and Chan’s leader-voice telling him it wouldn’t be much longer. Jisung sounded curious as he spoke, like he’d caught on to the fact that a few of the group were obviously up to something.

But Jisung didn’t have to wait long to find out what.

Felix waited until he heard one of them cry out in surprise, a smile pulling on his lips at Hyunjin’s familiar high-pitched squeal. He fluttered his wings slightly, sitting up and slowly spreading them out to tower either side of him, his feathers shimmering happily against the moonlight and casting a glorious silhouette of him sitting in stardust.

Felix had his back to the group now, but he still heard every single one of their footsteps stop. Even Chan, Minho and Seungmin fell uncharacteristically silent, like they couldn’t even bring themselves to speak at the almost painting-like scene before them.

For a second, Felix felt something clutch at his chest. Fear rippled tediously along his skin. Maybe exposing himself wasn’t a good idea. Maybe the humans would be disgusted…

But then a gasp filled with nothing but child-like wonder sailed through the air, followed by a pair of excited footsteps sprinting across the courtyard.

“Felix!” came the call, Jisung’s voice lilted with awe and excitement.

Felix looked over his shoulder just in time to see Jisung dashing towards him, his Pikachu pyjama trousers blowing in the breeze and his hair whipping behind him, exposing the pure glee splattered all over his face.

“Felix!” Jisung called again and Felix couldn’t resist smiling shyly at him, feeling his eyes flash an extra bright blue.

Jisung squealed as he finally reached Felix, rounding his wings to plant himself in front of him, Felix’s gaze following him the whole way.

“Felix, you really are an angel!” Jisung exclaimed, his eyes bright and sparkling as he raked them up and down Felix’s wings.

Felix blushed and dropped his gaze, his wings fluttering happily beside him from the praise.

“Thanks, Ji,” he said softly, his heart settling with the realisation that at least one of the humans didn’t hate him.

Jisung seemed to sense Felix’s hesitation, his fingers coming forward to gently cup Felix’s chin and bring his gaze upwards.

“Lix,” Jisung smiled widely, staring straight into Felix’s gorgeous blue eyes, “You look _beautiful_.”

A firework ignited in Felix’s chest. He squeezed his eyes shut, Jisung’s compliment soaring through him like sparks and his skin glittering with gold. He covered his face with a hand, trying to hide his shy smile.

“Ahhh, you’re so cute!” Jisung surged forward, wrapping his arms around Felix’s shoulders and pulling him close, being careful of his wings, “How do you still look adorable with giant badass wings sticking out of you? How do you do it, Lee Felix?”

Felix didn’t answer, just giggled into Jisung’s shoulder and nuzzled his nose into his neck, trying to convey all his gratefulness for all Jisung’s beautiful words.

By the time the two of them pulled away from each other, the rest of the group had made their way over. They all sat on the grass in front of Felix, eyes wide and smiles glowing.

“Hyung,” Jeongin looked like a little kid, the stars reflected in his young eyes and one of his hands coming out to hover just over the edge of Felix’s right wing, “ _Wow_.”

“Yeah,” Changbin joined in, his gaze thoughtful as he traced his gaze over Felix’s feathers, “ _Wow_.”

“I can’t believe it, Lix,” Minho joined in, his grin bright in the night, “You’ve managed to render the morons speechless.”

Seungmin snorted from next to him, Chan reaching out to whack them both over the head. Felix giggled, looking back to the humans and blushing when he realised they were too captivated by Felix’s wings to even hear what Minho had said.

“Innie,” Felix said softly, noticing that Jeongin still had his fingertips hovering in the air, “You can touch the wings if you want.”

Jeongin’s whole face lit up, his mouth opening and hair flopping around his face with the speed at which he whipped around.

“Are you sure?” he said, sounding just like a little child who’d been given access to the cookie jar, “You mean it, hyung?”

Felix smiled, “Of course.”

Jeongin swivelled back round, pausing for a few seconds before his hand came back up, wavering in the air before it finally brushed forward. Felix’s entire wing tingled with the feeling, his every vein sparkling with sequins.

He hummed contently, feeling his eyes flash with their bright metallic blue.

“Oh my god!” Hyunjin suddenly exclaimed, everyone jolting and whipping to stare at him at the sudden shout.

“Hyunnie!” Chan said, clutching at his chest, “My heart doesn’t even beat and you gave me a heart attack!”

Hyunjin ignored him to continue shouting.

“Why did no one who knew this was going to happen tell me to bring my camera?!” Hyunjin yelled incredulously, waving his arms around like a maniac, “This is literally the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, where the hell is my camera?!”

Felix felt his skin warm up the way down to his neck. He ducked shyly, hearing the words ‘ _most beautiful thing I have ever seen_ ’ ring through his mind like chorus bells.

Considering the way they had burdened him, Felix had never seen his wings as beautiful. They were big and inconvenient and always in the way. They were a menace and a nuisance and nothing more than a faulty gene that his species were annoyed they hadn’t lost yet.

But Felix supposed that, in a fairytale-like way, maybe his wings were a little beautiful. The stars were glittering down on them, shining gorgeously against their magic and casting an enchanting silhouette on every single feather and every one of his ruffles. He sat in a glow of faded blue, all silver edges and white purity, looking like a creature directly out of an illustrated fantasy book.

Maybe, just for the special moonlit night, Felix’s wings were a little pretty.

Which was apparently not convenient for Hyunjin’s photography project.

But then Seungmin hummed loudly, seeming to make a point of drawing attention to himself before he reached behind him and pulled a small black bag from behind his back, holding it out to Hyunjin.

“Seungmin, my little tiny demonic hero!” Hyunjin squealed, grabbing the bag and pressing a sloppy kiss against Seungmin’s cheek for good measure.

“Get off, gremlin,” Seungmin shoved him off, unable to hide the proud smile that appeared on his face.

Hyunjin just grinned back at him, already pulling the camera out. He crossed his legs and looked ready to fiddle with the camera settings for the next few minutes before he suddenly stopped, whipping his head up and staring at Felix with wide eyes and messy hair.

“Hey Lix,” Hyunjin said, a soft smile appearing on his even softer face, “Your wings are the prettiest thing in the world.”

With that, Hyunjin looked back down to his camera, already losing himself in all the settings like he hadn’t just dropped the equivalent of a bomb on Felix.

Felix’s mouth dropped open, his entire body burning. He felt all the breath leave his lungs, every vein and every feather in his wings warming with nothing but pure, unadulterated bliss.

They… they really loved Felix’s wings.

They thought Felix’s wings were the prettiest things in the world.

A tear slithered its way down Felix’s face, accompanied by a small laugh he couldn’t keep from passing his lips.

“Bokkie?” Changbin spoke up, looking at Felix in concern, “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, hyung,” Felix smiled at him, wiping away his tear, “Happy tears, I promise.”

Changbin just smiled back, seeming to hesitate a second before he shuffled forward and carefully leaned in to press a soft kiss on Felix’s forehead.

He let his lips rest there for a moment before he pulled back to tilt head against Felix’s, staring into his eyes before he spoke.

“I really glad you showed us your wings tonight,” Changbin whispered, his face glowing like the moon, “I’m sorry you were scared before, but I hope you’re not scared now.”

Felix sprang forward to land a kiss on Changbin’s nose, “I’m not scared anymore,” he said, “I’m happy.”

The words dazzled between them like magic, hanging in the air for a moment before they settled comfortably against their hearts.

Changbin just reached out and pinched Felix’s cheek, mumbling something about gorgeous, glittery freckles before he pulled back.

The warmth seemed to recede with Changbin’s touch but Felix didn’t mind it, not with Jeongin’s and now Jisung’s fingers tangled in each of his wings. He allowed his wings to rest properly against the ground, smiling when Jisung and Jeongin squealed like children at the action.

“The wings move?!” Jeongin exclaimed, looking unsure about whether he could keep touching them.

“They’re parts of my body, Jeongin,” Felix said, grinning at him, “It’s like moving my arm.”

Jeongin seemed to muse the words for a moment, mulling them over in his mind before he nodded, apparently impressed.

“That’s pretty cool,” he said.

“Glad I have your approval,” Felix winked.

The rest of the group seemed to take that as a cue to start asking questions about what the wings could do and the way they could move. Felix answered somewhat shyly, feeling himself get more confident when he told everyone about how he whacked Seungmin in the face with a wing.

The only one who didn’t laugh at the story was Jisung. Instead, he just stared at Felix’s wings contemplatively, like he couldn’t quite work something out.

“Ji?” Felix said, frowning slightly, “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Jisung responded, still looking at Felix’s wings for another moment before he finally lifted his gaze to look at him, “So, you have wings?”

“I do,” Felix nodded slowly, “That’s kinda the point of this whole walk-in-the-middle-of-the-night thing.”

Jisung didn’t even grin at that. His eyebrows just knitted together, his head tilting as he stared at Felix.

“So, if you have wings,” Jisung said, “Does that mean you can fly?”

Felix felt his chest surge with a familiar sense of adventure.

“Yeah, I can fly,” Felix grinned, “Wanna see?”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you sooooooooo much for reading
> 
> this fic took a lot of work and im not sure how i feel the writing, but something about it does feel really special to me. all comments and kudos are treasured and appreciated <3
> 
> twitter: @hotelfelixxie
> 
> have an enjoyable and safe day!! (remember to drink water and eat nice meals and take a rest when needed) xxxx


End file.
